The new Harris-built antenna for GOES-R satellites. Photo: Harris Corp.

[Via Satellite 09-09-2015] Harris Corporation, the prime contractor and system integrator for the ground segment dedicated to the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series, has finished the first of six 16.4-meter antennas. The antenna is operational and is serving as the primary link to the current GOES satellites. Harris Corp. is installing the other antennas at two of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) three GOES-R data centers: Wallops Island Command and Data Acquisition Station in Virginia and the Consolidation Backup Unit located in Fairmont, W.Va.

Lockheed Martin is building the satellites for NOAA, with NASA overseeing acquisition and development. The GOES-R series will enable more accurate weather forecasts by supplying meteorological data to NOAA with four times the resolution and five times the speed of current GOES satellites. The first GOES-R satellite is scheduled to launch in 2016.

“These antennae are designed to process new signals and 40 times more meteorological data transmitted by GOES-R,” said Romy Olaisen, vice president of Harris Global Weather Solutions. “They are part of the ground segment that will receive data from new weather satellite instruments, including the Harris Advanced Baseline Imager, and generate real-time information that supports NOAA’s efforts to improve severe weather forecasting.”